The Last Waltz (2002 album)

The Last Waltz
Soundtrack album & box set by The Band
Released	April 16, 2002
Recorded	November 25, 1976 (Winterland Arena, San Francisco) Late 1976–mid-1977 (Studio overdubs)
Genre	Rock
Length	246:18
Label	Warner Bros./Rhino
Producer	Robbie Robertson
The Band chronology
Greatest Hits (2000) The Last Waltz (2002) A Musical History (2005)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[1]

The box set The Last Waltz is a 2002 four-disc re-release of the 1978 album The Last Waltz documenting the concert The Last Waltz, the last concert by the Band with its classic line up. A full forty tracks are taken from the show in addition to rehearsal outtakes. Twenty-four tracks are previously unreleased.

Among the tracks added are a version of Louis Jordan's "Caldonia" featuring Muddy Waters and Pinetop Perkins trading off the vocal, a radically reworked version of the live favorite "Rag Mama Rag", Neil Young and Joni Mitchell joining the Band on "Acadian Driftwood", a blistering take on the Stage Fright classic "The W.S. Walcott Medicine Show", excerpts from a pair of instrumental jams involving several of the concert's guest performers, and the concert closer "Don't Do It". In addition, several edits made on the original 1978 set have been done away with; certain songs (such as "Forever Young" with Bob Dylan) are now presented in their unedited versions.

Songs still missing from the concert are a version of "Georgia on My Mind", the full versions of the two jams presented, the full version of "Chest Fever", and the concert takes of "King Harvest (Has Surely Come)" and "Evangeline". While the album still has overdubbing, re-sequencing, and editing, it does give a more accurate representation of the event itself than the earlier album or film do, according to collectors who have made comparisons with bootleg recordings of the concert.^[2]

On November 11, 2016, this set was reissued as part of a 40th Anniversary Deluxe Box Set edition that includes the 1978 Scorsese film on a separate Blu-Ray disc. It is not indicated as to whether or not new mastering was done to the audio discs over and above that from the 2002 reissue.

Track listing

All songs were written by Robbie Robertson, except where noted.

Disc one

Disc two

Disc three

Disc four

"The Last Waltz Suite"

Concert rehearsal

Studio Ideas

All of the tracks marked with * were previously unreleased.
All of the tracks marked with ** feature additional material.

Personnel

The Band

• Rick Danko – bass, fiddle, vocals
• Levon Helm – drums, mandolin, vocals
• Garth Hudson – organ, accordion, synthesizers, horns, clavinet
• Richard Manuel – piano, drums, organ, clavinet, keyboards, dobro, vocals
• Robbie Robertson – guitars, piano, vocals

The horn section

• Rich Cooper – trumpet, flugelhorn
• James Gordon – flute, tenor saxophone, clarinet
• Jerry Hey – trumpet, flugelhorn
• Howard Johnson – tuba, baritone saxophone, flugelhorn, bass clarinet
• Charlie Keagle – clarinet, flute, alto, tenor and soprano saxophones
• Tom Malone – trombone, euphonium, alto flute, bass trombone
• Larry Packer – electric violin
• Horns arranged by Henry Glover, Garth Hudson, Howard Johnson, Tom Malone, John Simon and Allen Toussaint

The guests

• Paul Butterfield – harmonica, vocals
• Bobby Charles – vocals
• Eric Clapton – guitar, vocals
• Neil Diamond – guitar, vocals
• Dr. John – piano, guitar, congas, vocals
• Bob Dylan – guitar, vocals
• Bill Graham – thanks
• Emmylou Harris – guitar, vocals
• Ronnie Hawkins – vocals
• Alison Hormel – harmony vocal
• Bob Margolin – guitar
• Joni Mitchell – guitar, vocals
• Van Morrison – vocals
• Pinetop Perkins – piano, vocals
• Carl Radle – bass
• Dennis St. John – drums
• John Simon – piano
• Cleotha Staples – harmony vocal
• Mavis Staples – vocals
• Roebuck "Pops" Staples – guitar, vocals
• Yvonne Staples – harmony vocal
• Ringo Starr – drums
• Stephen Stills – guitar
• Muddy Waters – vocals
• Ronnie Wood – guitar
• Neil Young – guitar, harmonica, vocals

Production

• Robbie Robertson – producer
• John Simon and Rob Fraboni – co-producers
• Ed Anderson – recording and mixing engineer
• Terry Becker, Neil Brody, Tim Kramer, Elliot Mazer and Wayne Neuendorf – recording engineers
• Baker Bigsby, Tony Bustos and Jeremy Zatkin – mixing engineers

Other credits

• Bill Graham – concert production
• John Simon – string arrangements

References